As long-time curator of the Knox House Museum – and the one
initiating the color contest for theera-authentic color of the hotel/home of
city founder Amaziah Lord Knox – I am delighted to explain the background of the color choices.

When the Knox needed repainting, we on the El Cajon
Historical Society board decided to devoteconsiderable research to the
colors used on buildings in the year 1876, which – even here on
America’slast frontier – was heavily influenced by Britain’s Queen
Victoria’s use of elaborate and garish color combinations.Restricted by the
lack of commercially colored paint, people in those days had to blend their own
paints.Mainly, they used basic white milk paint and added vegetable
colorings to turn it into black, brown and barn red.But when colored
OIL-based paint became available in the late 1860s, AND when the extension of
railroad tracks madeit possible to have it shipped, Americans went sort of
crazy, painting new buildings and repainting old in a combination
ofsometimes discordant hues (note San Diego’s own Villa Montezuma, those in
Old Town’s neighboring Heritage Parkand entire towns and cities throughout
California and the nation.

So, wanting to examine an appropriate choice of colors, I (a historian with
majors in both Historyand English, with a minor in Art, from Michigan State
University) took a special committee from our board ontours of historic
houses in San Diego. Then I prepared a rather lengthy packet of colored photos
of Victorianhouses, art history of the era, color boards and a list of
research requirements to the board of El Cajon’s ownArt Association – at the
time, they had a marvelous gallery on Main Street across from City Hall).
Thirteenmembers submitted paintings, which we had judged by a panel of
prominent art history and architectural history experts.One historical
architect was well-known throughout California, another was a “home-section”
reporter from the “Union-Tribune”, a third was a San Diego architect who
specialized in restoring historic buildings, and Karna Webster, an
EastCounty authority on historic homes and author of the SANDAG book on
historic homes in El Cajon and of two new bookson the El Cajon cemetery and
another tracing the sales and re-sales of the Knox Hotel/house. The painting
selected by theseknowledgeable experts was based on the authenticity of the
era painted by Gloria Chadwick, a highly respected, long-time local
artist.

Now, was this combination the original color of Amaziah’s
hotel/house? With only black and white photos from the1800s to guide us,
we’d submitted paint scrapings to Bruce D. Coons, long-time preservation
specialist and president ofSave Our Heritage Society for the City of San
Diego. It was his opinion that if the building was painted at all,it was
probably white-washed to protect it against the elements. And it was the opinion
of our experts thatpublic historic buildings had to be MORE than authentic
... they had to stand out AS ERA-RELATED PUBLIC buildings –thus the panel’s
enthusiastic selection of Chadwick’s Victorian colors.

In fact, that painting will be hung in the lobby of El Cajon’s new El Cajon
Brewery/pub restaurant onMagnolia and Main (2011) – along with greatly enlarged and
muralized photos of the-then-village’s settlers on their walls,with a
special collection of leading settler leaders within our city and the “rim” and
county areas bearing El Cajon addresses,thus, the gaudy colors.
Incidentally, Amaziah’s photo as a young man and a write-up about him is on
posts of the relativelynew metal city sign spanning Main Street near
Magnolia Avenue.

So, while I and the
historical society board are sorry that some people don’t like the Knox’s
colors, you simply can’t imaginehow that mustard yellow and maroon trim have
improved people’s notice of the museum. To us, this is invaluable aswe want
people to come inside and see for themselves how well-built this old
Victorian/Edwardian structure, built byNew Englander Amaziah Knox, has held
up. We’re eager to show what settlers brought with them to post-Civil War
SanDiego County – not jolted around in covered wagons, but shipped
professionally aboard ships, or crated up and sent bywagon from San
Francisco or aboard packet boats, among them (the “Harvard” or the “Yale”) – and
later by rail to Los Angeles,then by commercial wagons. Through their
belongings, we know their tastes, how much they could afford, their special
interests,where they came from and their level of education.

Let us share with you our pride in those stalwart,
energetic, forward-thinking folks who left the old behindto create new
realities for themselves ... and left so much of it and themselves behind for us
to appreciate and study.

Note: Lay was designated by Supervisor Dianne
Jacob to serve as a member of the San Diego County Historic Sites Board
and served also on
the City of El Cajon/CDC’s Design Review
Commission for its Redevelopment area.